Rarity's heart was racing. Her legs were working as fast they could. Her hair was blowing behind her as the wind dried out her eyes. Breaths came out in short bursts.
Charging down the main road of Ponyville, the white unicorn was weaving in and out of other pastel-colored equines. Her hooves begun to ache as she skidded out of the way of a cabbage cart, continuing her relentless pace onward. Oddly enough, it seemed like time had stopped, no other pony noticing her as she charged onwards to her goal. In fact, it seems like none of them even cared that she was tearing after her objective.
Soon enough, the tree library came into view, and confidence began to fill her heart. ”I can do this! Yes, I can do this!” Dreams of the future began to fill her mind, happy times and loving evenings. Everything was coming together harmoniously.
Out of nowhere, something blocked her path, right as she was on top of it. No time to stop, Rarity slammed into it at full speed. The object stood firm, while the unicorn fell backwards, a headache screaming in her temples.
The world was fuzzy, her ears ringing from impact. She felt dizzy and frantic, struggling to make heads or tails of the situation. When she opened her eyes, she could hardly see, the impact impairing her vision and making everything blurry. It looked like a cloud... Or maybe a mound of snow.
She tried to stand back up, but quickly fell back down as dizziness overtook her. Looking back to what she had run into, the picture began to clear. ”No, no no no...”
Voices started to call out to her. “You don't belong here. This is not the right place for you,” They said. “Forget it, it's hopeless...”
Looming up in front of her, as Rarity began to see, was a giant wall. Like most walls it was very tall, hard to climb, surrounded the entire library, solid and strong. Exactly alike to any other wall that had ever been built before, with one exception.
This wall was covered in mirrors.
At one in the morning, Rarity nearly jumped out of bed as she awoke with a scream.
-~-
“Alright, let's see...” Rarity said to herself as she pulled a list out of her saddlebags. Quickly scanning it, she read aloud, “Twenty spools of string, five square feet of gold leaf and some of the best silk I can find.”
Rarity scanned around the market. Ponies rushed from stall to stall, buying and bartering for what they needed. Most of it was foodstuffs or raw crops, but some were also selling specialty goods. ”Hand-crafted chairs? No. Candles? No. Premier pet products? Well no, but that does remind me I need to buy Opalescence some food later this week.” She sighed and facehoofed. ” This is just great. How am I going to find what I need if it's not even here?”
“Rarity?”
The mare in question spun around. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were walking over to her, with the latter struggling to carry a bulging pair of saddlebags.
“Fluttershy! Rainbow Dash!” she exclaimed, “How nice it is to see both of you here!” She eyed the immense load of goods Rainbow was carrying. “In fact, what are you doing here?”
“Tonight, the wonderbolts are coming to town!” Rainbow answered excitedly. “Right in the middle of the park, too!” She held her hooves up in the air for emphasis. “Imagine, watching some of the best fliers in the world performing under a full moon! It's going to be so awesome!”
“Yes, and Rainbow asked me if I could help her gather the necessary materials so she could watch tonight.” Fluttershy gave a sigh as she glanced at her friend's bags. “It's... Taken a while.”
“Why do you even need all of this?” Rarity asked. “Since it's in the park, can't you just walk right in and sit down on the grass?”
“What?!” Rainbow sounded as if she had just recommended jumping off a bridge. “No no no! This is the Wonderbolts. I need to set up the optimal position to watch, along with a custom chair perfectly rotated so I can see the entire space they're performing in!”
“Isn't that... A little excessive?” Rarity queried.
“No way! Not for their number one fan that is!” She looked at her bulging saddlebags. “... It'll just take some time and elbow grease. Which reminds me, I gotta get start like right now if I want to be set up in time!” She looked to the sky. “Gotta dash!”
The cyan pegasus jumped off into the air and just barely went airborne. Flying at a very low altitude, she couldn't have been traveling more than a few miles an hour. Her bags sagged at her side, clipping a nearby stand and knocking off its sign.
“Sorry!” she called out, before disappearing towards the park.
Fluttershy and Rarity giggled. “So,” the quiet mare began, “What are you up to?”
“Oh me? I'm just looking for materials I need for a new dress.” She began to frown. “Although I haven't had much luck finding anything yet.”
“Would you like help?” Fluttershy asked. “I've already been here for an hour or so, and a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.”
“Oh, really?” Rarity smiled. “Thanks!”
“No problem.” Fluttershy said as she began walking with Rarity through the market. “So, what are looking for? Like I said, I've been in here a bit so I think I have a good idea of what's selling today.”
“Oh, just some silver-laced string, a bit of gold leaf and some premium threaded silk.” The designer began looking around at the nearby stalls.
“R-really?” Fluttershy sounded surprised. “Wow Rarity, those items aren't something you'd find around here that often.”
“I know...” Rarity sighed. “But I really need them, and I don't have the time to order them from Canterlot. I just hope Ponyville has enough for one dress.”
“Oh dear, only one dress? This client must be pretty special.” The yellow mare gasped. “Is she some famous celebrity?”
“Heavens no, darling. It's for...” Rarity gulped. Even with her pegasus friend knowing about her feelings, it still felt weird telling her she was making a dress for Twilight. “Well, I'm designing one for Twilight.”
Fluttershy grinned knowingly. “Oh, now it all makes sense.” Rarity blushed. “I'm still wondering why you're doing this, though.”
“It's nothing, really.” Rarity looked down and traced circles in the ground with her hoof. “I just figured she could use a new one, with her dazzling one last night probably ending up ruined.”
“W-what?” Fluttershy squeaked in surprise. “Where did you see her in a dress last night?”
”Oops.” The unicorn instantly felt embarrassed as she gave up too much information.
“Oh, haha...” Rarity scratched the back of her neck. “Yeah, we went out for dinner last night.” She found herself smiling as she recalled the previous night's events: going over the book, the failed attempt at cooking, and teasing Twilight while washing her mane. Then there was the brilliant dinner, turning away the admittedly handsome restaurant owner, and finally the dash through the rain, all tied together with a kiss.
“Like a date?” Fluttershy asked quietly. The words seemed foreign to her.
“Not exactly,” Rarity conceded with a sigh. “I did tease her about that, but no.”
Fluttershy glanced around the market, before spotting the stall she was looking for. “Oh, there's the vendor I'm looking for, way back there.” She pointed it out to Rarity and then continued on with their conversation. “Well, where did you go then? I mean, I'm no expert on subjects like this, but I don't think you go out to just any restaurant with dresses on.”
“Yeah. We actually went out to “Le Chianti,” the new place that opened up a week ago.” She smirked. “Apparently Twilight caught the eye of the owner and he got us a table easily and paid for most of our meal.”
“Oh! Well, that's nice I guess...” Fluttershy pondered the subject for a second. “Wait, did Twilight seem to be interested in him too?”
Rarity grinned victoriously. “Oh no, he overheard Twilight talking about how she liked mares.” She followed it up with a giggle. “Soon after that, all of a sudden, we had to pay for our food and drinks.” She shrugged innocently. “I haven't the faintest clue why that happened.”
“Oh, well it's because he found out-”
“I know, dear. I was being facetious.” Rarity chuckled.
“Oh...” Fluttershy looked away. “Wait, you said her dress was ruined?” She asked, coming to a realization.
Rarity sighed. “A outright shame, too. It looked brilliant on her,” she explained, her mind flicking back to how it looked on Twilight the night before. “Deep blue and glittery, just somehow matching perfectly.”
“Yeah, I guess I can see that,” Fluttershy put in as they walked down the road.
“Let me tell you, that girl looks gorgeous in a slimming dress. I never noticed she had curves until then.”
The timid yellow mare put a hoof over her mouth to stifle a giggle. “You noticed she had curves?” Even she, usually shy and reserved, couldn't help but to poke fun at her friend. “Which ones did you notice?”
Rarity nearly stopped in her tracks, her face heating up like a furnace. “Oh, did I say that? Silly me, I meant to say 'I never noticed she could look so sophisticated'.”
“Wow, Rarity, I didn't think you'd be looking at her like that so soon.” Fluttershy grinned like a filly who just had their first taste of freedom, as she disregarded the unicorn's excuse. She clearly looked like she was having fun, and wasn't about to give up just yet.
”Damn, I guess this is karma for last night...”
“I wasn't!” Rarity huffed. “I am a lady, and ladies do not ogle. Lechery is not even in our vocabulary.”
“I think you just used it, which means it's in your vocabulary.” Fluttershy stuck her tongue out, riding on her wave of adventurousness.
“My my, Fluttershy, look at you!” Rarity raised an eyebrow at her, trying to turn the tables. “Suddenly very bold, are we? Well, since you obviously know what lechery means, can you explain it to me?”
Fluttershy began to blush. “Uh-I... Umm...”
“Right, I thought so.” Rarity looked away from her, “Although, I'll admit you had me going there for a bit... I'm happy that you took a step outside your comfort zone, dear, but please don't use me as your practice target.”
They remained quiet for a few moments, slowly making their way through the crowd towards the stall Fluttershy had pointed out.
“I still know you were looking at her flanks.”
Rarity groaned. “Alright, fine! Maybe for a bit, sure. But... But...” She tried to come up with the right words. “But it wasn't like I was staring the whole time, think of it in the sense of fine wine.”
“Y-you tasted it?”
“Celestia no!” Rarity flustered, dismissing the notion immediately with the shake of a hoof. “I took it in small doses, a little bit at a time,” she explained.
“Oh... That makes sense.” Fluttershy heaved a sigh of relief. “So anyways, where were we?” She tapped her chin with a hoof. “Oh right! How did her dress get ruined?”
“Well, remember that huge downpour last night?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah.”
“We were walking home right when that started coming down.” The unicorn smiled at the memory, despite her friend's gasp. “So we sort of had to run back to her house through it.”
“Oh no! That must have been horrible!” Fluttershy tried her best to sympathize with her.
“No, it was actually pretty fun...” Rarity admitted. “I know, hard to believe, me running through the rain and getting my mane ruined. But honestly, it was great, giggling and stomping through puddles in the middle of the night.”
“Really? I didn't expect that.”
“Well,” Rarity tried her best to hold in a smug grin, “that's not all that happened.”
“Oh no...” Fluttershy looked both very curious and slightly anxious. “What did you do?”
“Me?” The white mare put a hoof to her chest. “Nothing at all, dear. Why do you instantly blame me?” Before her friend could answer, she continued on, “No, it was Twilight... She kind of... Well, umm... Kissed me.”
Fluttershy broke out in a smile as her face warmed. “Aww...” She cooed. “That's so sweet! A romantic kiss after running home through the rain.” She quickly wrapped a hoof around Rarity. “I'm so proud of you!”
“Yeah, well...” Rarity shrugged her hoof off her shoulders, “It wasn't exactly like that. We almost ended it like that, but I got nervous. “ She looked away momentarily. “Then it got awkward and she went inside. Right before I left though, she opened the door again and kissed me on the cheek.” She put a hoof up the where Twilight had graced it the night before.
“Well, that still counts in my book!” Fluttershy proclaimed, as they approached their destination. “Anyways, we're here! I hope Azure has what you're looking for.”
“Right.” Rarity smiled to her friend before approaching the stand. A cute, blue mare came up to the counter. “Hi there,” she began. “What do you have in stock today?”
“What are you looking for?” The mare asked, giving the two ponies in front of her a smile.
“Oh, well let's see here...” Rarity pulled out the list from her saddlebags. “Some silver-laced string, gold leaf, and err... I don't suppose you have any silk?”
“Hmm, well let me check for a second.” She turned around, scanning through her stock. Picking up a few items with her mouth, the earth pony came back to the counter with a couple spools of silver-laced string and a roll of gold leaf. Rarity gave a half-smile, noticing not everything was there.
“Sorry, I seem to have run out of silk.” Azure shrugged. “I usually don't even have half this stuff, but with spring coming up, I needed to make some space.”
“Oh, darn...” Rarity sighed. “Are you sure? Could you double check?” She looked towards the back of the stall desperately. “Sorry, usually I'd just order straight from Canterlot, but this was all on really short notice. I kind of need it today.”
“Hmm...” The equally-blue maned pony began to ponder, tilting her head slightly as she thought. “Well, I do have some back at my house, but I'd hate to close down my stall to run back and get it.”
Rarity's eyes lit up. “Oh, please! I'll do whatever you want me to do to help. I'll even watch the store for you while you're out.” She put her hooves together pleadingly. “Don't worry, I run the Carousel Boutique here in town, I'll make sure you get a fair price for your goods.”
Azure chuckled. “Well, I guess you do, then. It's not often I have fashion designers buying from me.” She glanced past Rarity for a second, then looked back to her. “Alright, I'll make a deal with you. I'll go out and grab the silk from my house and you fill in here at the moment-” Rarity nodded eagerly.
“-if you tell me the name of that cute friend of yours.”
Rarity froze. Turning around slowly, she noticed that Fluttershy had lost interest and was browsing at nearby vendors. She erupted into laughter as she turned back to the salespony. “Oh, wow, haha, that's a good one!” Rarity wiped a tear away from her eye.
Azure looked nonplussed. “What? Is something wrong? Is she just into stallions?”
“Oh, well, I'm not quite sure about that.” Rarity began to calm down. “But she's just really quiet and timid. Granted, she is very sweet and pretty, but she's also terribly nervous and shy.”
“So? I was just like that before I started selling here in the market.” Azure smiled knowingly.
Rarity's humorous expression died. “Y-you're actually serious about this, aren't you?”
“Yeah, I am.”
Rarity groaned, not knowing what to do. Would Fluttershy be mad or scared? Or maybe she's not even into mares at all? But, she also really needed that silk. Besides, maybe, just maybe this cute mare would be good for Fluttershy... It was worth a shot.
“Alright, fine.” Rarity sighed, and then tried her best to smile. “Her name is Fluttershy, and once you get back with the silk, you can try your best to talk to her. Just...” She looked back to her friend, who was happily looking through a selection of duck and bunny slippers. “Just be careful with her.”
Azure beamed back at her. “Alright, I understand.” She opened a door out of the side of the stand and walked up to Rarity, “I'll be back in twenty minutes or so.”
-~-
“And there you go madam, twenty-seven balls of assorted colors of yarn.” Rarity smiled and handed her an overstuffed bag, accepting a small pouch of bits. She rolled her eyes as the mare left. ”Either she's knitting seven days a week, or she has a lot of cats.”
“Rarity?”
For the second time that day, she had her name called out from somepony she didn't see. It wasn't Fluttershy, as she had explained to her earlier what was happening (and the blush on her face was priceless). Rarity suspected she had wandered off around the market somewhere. The voice was very familiar, though.
“Hey, Rarity! Over here!”
She turned her head to see Twilight walking over to her stand, a bag in tow. Knees starting to go weak, Rarity felt butterflies in her stomach. “Oh, hi there, Twilight.”
“Gee, what are you doing in there?” Twilight remarked. “I never knew you ran a stand here in the market.”
“Oh this?” Rarity looked around her. “I just offered to help the owner out while she ran back home for a second.”
“Aww, that's nice of you.”
Rarity gave out an abashed grin. “No, it's nothing, honestly.”
“Well, anyways, I wanted to apologize for last night,” Twilight said.
“Huh?” Rarity couldn't believe what she was hearing. ”Is this just some kind of joke?” She shook her head. “Darling, what are you going on about? Yesterday evening was amazing.”
“Yeah, but I sent you home in the rain.” She sounded really guilty. “I'm so sorry, I should have asked you to come in and wait out the rain, or atleast given you an umbrella.”
Rarity leaned over the counter, propping herself up on her forearms. “Dear, stop worrying.” She said quietly, as she was close enough to the lavender mare. “I was already duly soaked by then, and besides... You gave me all I needed before you closed the door.”
Her skin prickled as she said that, goosebumps rippling up and down her body. The rush of excitement, the surge of adrenaline from admitting how she truly felt. It was wonderful, liberating and enlightening. The whole little game with Twilight for the past week felt really silly now.
Twilight blushed deeply and looked away. “I... I was so worried that I had creeped you out after that, so nervous that all I could do was shut the door... I just wanted to try it,” she mumbled. “D-do you really mean that?”
“I really mean it,” Rarity confirmed. “And I'm glad you did it, because I probably never would have done it.”
Twilight giggled sheepishly. “Yeah, my hooves were shaking for minutes after...” The two remained silent for a few moments. “Hey, I was thinking...” She began again.
“Yes?”
“Could we do something like that again?” Twilight looked up at her, violet eyes searching for a clue.
Rarity smiled. “I'd be simply delighted,” she purred.
The adorable mare's face blossomed into a huge smile. “Tonight?” She asked hopefully.
”So eager, are we?” Rarity giggled. “Oh, I don't see why not. Let's say, seven-thirty?”
Twilight nodded quickly. “That works for me!” she exclaimed. “It's a date!” Suddenly, she blushed lightly around the cheeks, realizing what she just said. “I didn't mean it like that, you know, it's just a saying... Although if you want it like that, that's fine too! But either way, uh, yeah.”
”Oh dear Celestia, take a hint!” The white unicorn rolled her eyes. “A date, with Twilight?” She smiled, before lowering her voice and adding a wink, “Alright, I'd like that.”
“Oh, that's okay then, I didn't mean it eith- wait what?” Twilight looked utterly surprised. “Are you serious?”
Rarity giggled and nodded.
“Yes!” Twilight bounced off the ground. It took her a few seconds before she heard Rarity chuckling at her. “I mean, umm, great! See you around seven-thirty!”
“I'll meet you at your house, darling!” Rarity called out before she left.
“Okay!” Twilight said as she turned around to her. Unfortunately, she ran right into the side of a stall, nearly knocking down the tent perched above it. “Sorry!” she apologized to its owner, before spinning around and trotting off home.
”Seriously Twilight, how do you do it? Someday you have to show me how you manage to be so adorable.”
“What's up with her?”
Rarity looked over the see Azure, a bag placed on the counter of the stall. “Oh, don't mind her, she's just a little excited.” The unicorn smiled. “She has a big night today.”